This invention is related to the field of making small, discrete, spherical adducts. In particular, this invention is related to the field of making a small, discrete, spherical adducts of magnesium dihalide alcohol.
The preparation of olefin polymerization catalysts from magnesium dihalide alcohol adducts has been known since about 1970. Most often these adducts were prepared by either ball milling a mixture of an alcohol and magnesium dihalide, or by mixing an alcohol and magnesium dihalide in a solvent that would not complex with the magnesium dihalide. However, both of these approaches suffered from the problems of poor particle size control and poor particle size shape.
Various solutions to these problems have been proposed. One approach was to use a spray drier to dry either a suspension or a solution of the adduct, thereby obtaining said adduct. This approach had several problems. One problem was removing large volumes of flammable hydrocarbons from the process. Removing these flammable hydrocarbons required special safety equipment and this equipment greatly added to the cost of producing said adduct.
Another approach has been to form the adduct in a low-viscosity, liquid medium that has a temperature greater than the melting point of the adduct. However, this approach also has several problems. One problem is that particle size distribution control and particle size control was not at the desired level.